Artificial refrigerating apparatus



Jan. 29, 1924.

H. D. POWNALL ARTIFICIAL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed May '7, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 29, 1924.

H. D. POWNALL V ARTIFICIAL REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed y 7. 1921 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan. 259, 1924.

' UNITED STATE I HENRY n. rowNALL, or canroitiomo.

PATENT .AB'I'II'ICIAL anraxenaa'rmo arrana'rus.

v a puoauon'ale'a m 2-1921." Serial imaemee.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthatf-I, HENRY a citizen or the United States, residin at Canton, in the county of Stark fandtate of'Ohio, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Artificial Refrigerating Apparatus, of which thefollowin'g 1s a specification. v

My inventlon relates to improvements in vide improved means to feedcold or warm brine to the respective freezing tank units to freeze and release the ice blocks. Ar

other object is to provide improved means to avoid projection of valve stems or other objects above the floor of the tank room. Another object is to prevent and avoid injury and loss from accidental overflow of one or more of the freezing tank units. Another object is to provide improved valve mechanism adapted to reliably control the brine flow and to avoid liability of the valve mechanism being rendered inoperative from the lodging of obstructions therein, andto provide for the convenient removal of obstructions and maintenance of the valves in operative condition. Another object is to provide improved quick acting and simple valve mechanism without valve stem pack-' ing and leakage and means to connect'the same to the tanks and conduits. My invention also comprises certain details of'form,

combination andarrangements, all of which will be fully set forth in the description of theaccompanying drawings; in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan of a portion. of an artificial ice making apparatus embod ing my improvements.

ig. 2, is a plan of the inside of one end ofone of the freezing tank units with the warm and cool brin inlet and exit valves mounted thereon.

Fig. 3, is an enlarged plan of one of the cool brine exit valves detached.

Fig. 4, is a. section through the same on line 4-4 of Fig. '3.

' Fig. 5 is' an end view of the same.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6--6 of Fig. 3. Fig. 7is an enlar ed sectional detail of the gate valve detache I The accompanying drawings illustrates the preferred'embodime-nt of my invention D. PowNALL,

1,431,928 orifice;

in which 14: represents a brine cooler tank" of an artificial ice making apparatus," divided by an L-shaped partition 140 into a brine receiving compartment- 14 and'a brine dis- 'tributing:compartment 14". The flow-of icoldbrine is indicated in Fig. 1 by arrows in dotted; line and the'fiow of warm orrreturn brine is indicated by arrows in full line. A brine circulating propeller 15 forces the .brine under a. head of a few inches from cooled by a direct expansion system 15 into the receiving compartment through a series of "flues or channels, where the brine is the brine distributing l compartment. A

plurality of freezing tank units 16 are employed, on both sidesof the brine cooler if desired, which are substantially duplicates of each other and in each are a series of cans or ice molds 16 mounted therein in a substantially permanent manner, so that all the cans of one unit are filled with raw water at oneoperation,- and all the blocks of ice are released from the ice molds at one operation by displacing the cool brine with a warmer brine from a warm brine coil 19.

The tank 18 contains :a body of fresh rawwater more than sufiicient to fill all the ice cans in any one of the freezing tanks. Tank 18 hassubmerged therein a coil of pi e 19 through which brine from one of the reezing tanks is designed to be circulated to warm the brine and at'the same time cool the fresh water in tank 18. The brine to be circulated through coil 19 is taken from one of the freezing tank units in which the ice is completely frozen and ready to be harvested and after passing through the coil 19 is gradually returned to the same freezing tank and mixed with the brine therein surrounding the ice molds therein until the temperature of the brine in said freezing tank unit is sufficiently raised to release the ice blocks from the several ice cans of said freezing tank at one operation. The'passage of the raw water through the raw .water conduit 18'- and tank 18 reduces the temperature of the raw waterv to near its freezing point, after which it is employed to refill the ice cans through ports 17' at the bottom thereof, while in turn the brine in coil 19 has its temperature correspondingly elevated and thereby enables the brine from coil 19 to be employed as warm brine in releasing the ice from the cans successively in the respective freezing tanks, and without liability lation of its valves, will maintain a uniform brine level without liability to overflow into the ice molds or overflow to the exterior of said tanks, and instead the excess brine will be conducted from said tank through the overflow port 44 to the brine cooler tank where it will find its level by reacting upon the head and distribution of the entire brine circulation system of which the brine in one freezing tank is a. relatively small fraction.

When the fresh water in the ice molds of any one freezing tank has been completely frozen into blocks of ice, the cold brine circulating valves 36 thereof are closed and the warm brine valves. 46 and 47 to that freezing tank unit are opened, thereby by means of the circulating pump 22 slowly i removing cold brine to the'coil 18 and replacing it with warmer brine in such manner as to release the blocks of ice from the molds without so suddenly applying warm brine as to cause the ice blocks to become fractured. After the ice blocks have been removed the ice molds are refilled with fresh water, the warm brine circulation through that freezing tank unit is cut off and the valves 36 opened to reestablish a circulation of cold brine until the ice molds are again filled with ice.

By mounting the valves 36 and 46' and 47 upon the inner face of the freezing tanks I am enabled to dispense with the packing of valve stems, or any leakage at the valve stems, to quickly actuate the valves, to kee the valves free from obstructions, to avoi leakage of brine where the conduits are con-' nected to the valves and freezing tanks, and to avoid the introduction of air into the brine circuit to be trapped therein or to obstruct or interfere with the brine circulation.

The apparatus herein illustrated and de-' scribed is capable of considerable modification without departing from the principle of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler tank, a cold brine circulator, a plurality of freezing tank units each having an 'intake cold brlne conduit and an exit cold brine conduit from said brine cooler, a heat exchange member having a compartment into which raW water enters and is cooled and a compartment in whichbrine enters and has its temperature increased, a warm brine circulator, abrine intake conduit and a brine exit conduit from each freezin tank unit to said heat exchange mem er, an overflow passage from each of said freezing tanks to one of said other tanks to prevent an inadvertent oversupply of brine to one of said freezing tanks,

and a valve mechanism to enable either warm brine or cold brine to be selectively supplied to the respective freezing tanks.

2. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler tank, a cold brine circulator, a plurality of freezing tank units each having an intake cold brlne conduit and an exit cold brineconduit from said brine cooler tank, a heat exchange member having a compartment into which raw water enters and is cooled and a compartment in which brine enters and has its temperature increased, valve mechanism to enable either Warm brine or cold brine to be selectively supplied to the respective freezing tanks, and an overflow port from each of said freezing tanks to a brine exit conduit to predetermine the maximum brine surface level, and'avoid an inadvertent oversupply of brine in an one of said freezing tanks.

3. An artificlal ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler tank, a cold brine circulator, a plurality of freezing tank units, each having an intake cold brine conduit and an exit cold brine conduit from said brine cooler tank, a heat exchange member having a compartment into which raw water enters and is cooled and a compartment in which brine enters and has its temperature increased, valve mechanism to enable either warm brine or cold brine to be selectively supplied to the respective freezing tanks and an overflowport from each of said freezing tanks to the cold brine conduits to discharge any excess ofbrine from said respective freezing tanks to said brine cooler tank and thereby. avoid injury through aninadvertent oversupply of brine to one of said freezing tanks.

4. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a freezing tank provided with a 'brine surface level in said freezing tank and avoid injury from an inadvertent flooding of said ice molds or overflow of said tank.

5. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a freezing tank provided with a series of ice molds, a cold brine intake conduit and a cold brine exit conduit to sup ply and maintain a circulation of'cold brine to and from said freezing tank, valve cas-.

ings provided with valve seats projecting inwardly attached to the inside face of said tank and connected to said. intake and exit conduits, gate valves movable transversely to and from said valve seats relative to Said,

valve casings and actuating levers projecting from said valves .to the upper edge of said freezing tank.

6. An artificial ice making apparatus comprisin a freezing tank provided with a series ice molds, a cold brine intake conduit and a cold brine exit conduit to supply and maintain a circulation of cold brine to and from said freezing tank, valve casings provided with inwardly projecting valve seats attached to the inside face of said tank and connected to said intake and exit conduits, gate valves movable transversely to and from said valve seats relative to said valve casings, means adjustable relative to said valve casings to be engaged by said valves to force said valves to their seats, and actuating levers projecting from said valves to the upper edge of said freezing tank.

7. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a freezing tank provided with a series of ice molds, a cold brine intake conduit and a cold brine exit conduit to supply and maintain ,a circulation of cold brine to and from said freezing tank, valve casings provided with inwardly projecting valve seats, attached to the inside face of said tank and connected to said intake and exit conduits, disk shaped gate valves movable transversely to and from said valve seats relative to said valve casings, and free to adjust themselves rotatably to said casings and valve seats, adjustable projections on said valve casings to be engaged by the valves to force the valves to their seats and actuating levers to shift said valves relative to the valve casings from open to closed position, said valve seats and valves being exposed toward the interiorof the tank to facilitate removal of any obstruction.

8. A tank, a. conduit leading from the tank, an annular valve casing having a port an annular valve seat and open guides for a gate valve, said casing being attached to the inside of one Wall of the tank and projecting into the tank with a packing joint between the valve casing and said conduit and a packing joint between said casin and tank wall, a rotatably mounted disk s aped gate valve exposed toward the interior of the tank and movable along said guides to and from the valve seat, projections to force the valve to its seat, and vmeans to actuate said valve.

9. A tank, a conduit leading from the tank, an annular valve casing having a valve port and anoverfiow port each leading from the tank to said'conduit, an annular valve seat and open guides for a gate valve carried by said valve casing, sald casing being attached to the inside of one wall'of the tank and projecting into the tank with a packing joint between the valve casing and said conduit and a packing joint between 5 said casing and tank wall, a rotatably names mounted disk. shaped-gate valve exposed toward the interior of the tank and movable along said guides to and from the valve seat, projections to force the valve to its seat, and means to actuate said valve.

10. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler, a freezing tank having a series of ice cans mounted therein, a heat exchange member having a compartment through which brine from the freezing tank is to be circulated to increase the temperature of the brine andthen return the warmer brine to the freezing tank and a compartment through which fresh wateris circulated to decrease its temperature and then utilized to fill the ice cans in the freezing tank, cold brine circulating conduits to supply cold brine from the bum cooler to the freezing tank surrounding the ice cans and to return cold brine to said brine cooler, brine conduits to conduct brine from the freezing tank to said exchange member and to return brine from said exchange member to said freezing tank, a conduit to lead fresh water from said exchange member to the re spective ice cans of said freezing tank, and a series of valves attached to the inner wall of said freezing tank, at the terminals of said respective brine conduits and means extending up through the brine in said freezing tank to actuate said valves.

11. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler a freezing tank having a series of ice cans mounted therein, a heat exchange member having a compartment through which brine from the freezing tank is to be circulated to increase the temperature of the brine and then return the warmer brine to the freezing tank and a compartment through which fresh water is circulated to decrease its temperature and then utilized-to fill the ice cans in the freezing tank, cold brine circulating conduits to supply cold brine from the brine cooler to the freezing tank surrounding the ice cans and to return cold brine to said brine cooler, brine conduits to conduct brine from the freezing tank to said exchange member and to return brine from said exchange member to said freezing tank, a conduit to lead fresh water from said exchange member to the 'respect-ive ice cans of said freezing tank, and a series of valves attached to the terminals of said respective brine conduits and located inside the walls of said freezing tank and means to actuate said valves from the top of said freezing tank.

1%. An artificial ice' making apparatus comprising a brine cooler, a freezing tank having a series of ice cans mounted therein, a heat exchange member having a compartment through which brine from the freezing tank is to be circulated to increase the temperature of the brine and then return the warmer brine to the freezing tank and a v A then utilized to fill the ice cans in the freezthe warmer ing tank, a cold brine circulating conduit to supply cold brine from the brine cooler to the freezing tank-surrounding the ice cans and to return cold brine to said brine cooler, brine conduits to conduct brine from the freezing tank to said exchange member and to return brine from said exchange member to said freezing tank, a conduit to lead fresh water from said exchange member to the respective ice cans of said freezing tank, and a series of valves to control the flow of brine to and from said freezing tank attached to the terminals of said respective brine conduits and located inside the walls of said freezing tank. e

13. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a brine cooler, a freezing tank, having a series of ice cans mounted therein, a heat exchange member having a compartment through which brine from the freezing tank-is to be circulated to increase the temperature of the brine and then return brine to the freezing tank and a compartment through which fresh water is circulated to decrease its temperature and then utilized to fill the ice cans in the freezing tank, cold brine circulatin conduits to supply cold brine from the brine cooler to the freezing tank surroundingthe ice cans and to return cold brine to said brine cooler,

brine conduits to conduct brine from the freezing tank to said exchange member and to return brine from said exchange member to said freezing tank, a conduit to leadfresh 'water from said exchange member to the respective ice cans of said freezing tank, and a series of valves to control the flow of brine to and from said freezing tank attached to the terminals of said respective brine conduits and located inside the walls of said freezingtank, one of said valves bein provided with a branch overflow conduit to avoid exceeding a predetermined maximum brine level in said freezing tank.

14. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a freezing tank having a seriesof ice cans mounted therein, a cold brine conduit leading to and a cold brine conduit leading from said freezing tank, a brine consignature.

duit leading from said freezing tank to a brine warming member and a brine conduit to return warm brine from said brine warming member to said freezing tank, and a series of valves to control the flow of brine to and from said freezing tank attached to the terminals of said respective brine con- .duits and located inside the walls of said freezing tank, one of said valves being providedwith a branch overflow conduit to avoid exceeding a predetermined maximum brine level in said freezing tank.

15. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a plurality of freezing tank units each having a series of ice cans mounted therein and to have the ice harvested at one operation and the ice cans refilled at one operation, a cold brine conduit leading to each freezing tank unit and a cold brine conduit leading from each of said freezing tank units, a, brine conduit from each freezing tank unit to a brine warming member, and a brine conduit to return warm brine from said brine warming member to each of said freezing tank units, and a series of valves to control the fiow'of brine to and from each of said freezing tank units at- V tached to the terminals ofthe respective brine conduits and located inside the walls of said several freezing tank units, each of said freezing tank a brine overflow branch conduit to avoid exceeding a predetermined maximum brine level in any one of said freezing tank units. 16. An artificial ice making apparatus comprising a freezing tank having a series of ice cans mounted therein, a cold brine conduit leading to and a cold brine conduit leading from said freezing tank, a'brine conduit leading from said freezing tank to a brine Warming member and a brine conduit to return warm brine from said brine warming member to said freezing tank, and a series of valves to control the flow of brine toand from said freezing tank attached to the terminals of said respective brine conduits and located inside thewalls of said freezing tank, and-means to actuate said valves from outside of said freezing tank.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my HENRY n. rowNALL.

units being "provided with 

